Leon Heron was carrying Taco Bell home to his wife on May 13, 2007, when two robbers confronted him in the parking lot of their Lauderdale Lakes apartment complex. He fought back. During the struggle, one of the attackers shot and killed him at just 34 years old. The case sat unsolved for nearly two decades until a tip from inside a Florida prison finally gave investigators the break they needed.
According to CBS Miami, Broward authorities have now charged two women in connection with Heron's murder. Investigators say the pair were both just 17 years old in 2007 when they drove around Broward County in a stolen SUV, hunting for someone to rob. When they spotted Heron getting out of his car, they confronted him and demanded his belongings, and one of them had brought a handgun, per the outlet's reporting.
Detectives arrested the first suspect, Brittany Hanfield, on a first-degree murder charge on November 10, 2025, more than 18 years after the homicide, according to the Boca Post. Nearly a year later, a Broward County Grand Jury formally indicted the second suspect, Sheila Arstil, on a charge of first-degree murder on October 7, 2026, the outlet reports. Both women are now held without bond at the Broward County Jail.
How a Prison Tip Reopened the Case
The breakthrough traces back to April 2023, when a tip pointed Broward Sheriff's Office Cold Case Homicide Unit Detective David Towsley toward Hanfield, who was already incarcerated in a Florida prison. Hanfield initially told investigators she was merely a witness to the killing, but detectives determined through further questioning that she had been an active participant, the same report notes.
Hanfield later disclosed detailed information about the incident, according to CBS Miami's account, information detectives say helped crack open the case. Investigators ultimately secured the first-degree murder charges against both Hanfield and Arstil by combining DNA evidence preserved from the 2007 crime scene with statements and recorded confessions from the suspects, per the Boca Post's reporting.
No Statute of Limitations for Felony Murder
The nearly two-decade gap between the killing and the charges is not a legal obstacle. Under Florida Statute § 782.04, a fatal shooting committed during the perpetration of an armed robbery constitutes first-degree felony murder, a capital offense for which Florida law sets no statute of limitations under Florida Statute § 775.15, according to FindLaw.
Both suspects were only 17 at the time of the killing, but they are being prosecuted as adults. Under Florida Statute § 985.56, when a grand jury indicts a minor for a capital offense such as first-degree murder, the case automatically transfers from juvenile delinquency court to adult criminal court, per Longwell Lawyers. That statute explains why Hanfield and Arstil now face trial in Broward Circuit Court rather than juvenile proceedings, despite their ages when Heron was killed.
A Cold Case Unit With a Growing Track Record
The arrests add to a growing tally for the Broward Sheriff's Office's dedicated cold case squad. Since Sheriff Gregory Tony established BSO's full-time Cold Case Homicide Unit in 2019, the unit had solved 29 homicide and sexual battery cold cases through August 2026 while actively pursuing 38 others, according to The Westside Gazette. BSO also featured the resolution of Heron's murder in Episode 13 of its official Open and Unsolved public video series released in October 2026.
CBS Miami reports that Heron's relatives felt long-awaited relief after learning the case was finally solved. Lauderdale Lakes, where Heron was killed, is a central Broward County municipality of roughly 37,000 residents, with a population that is over 80% Black and a median household income of about $50,000, according to World Population Review.
The case echoes a pattern seen elsewhere in Broward County, where a Lauderhill cold case also saw an arrest decades after a killing, part of a broader regional push by departments like Davie Police to revisit unsolved homicides using DNA technology and cash rewards for tips.
